Adjustable shade apparatus



July 8,1969 G. ABRAHAM 3,454,075

ADJUSTABLE SHADE APPARATUS Filed Nov. 17, 1967 Sheet I of 2 FIG./ F/G.2

INVENTOR.

GARNETT ABRAHAM y 8, 1969 G. ABRAHAM 3,454,076

ADJUSTABLE SHADE APPARATUS Filed Nov. 17, 1967 Sheet INVENTOR. GARNETT ABRAHAM United States Patent 3,454,076 ADJUSTABLE SHADE APPARATUS Garnett Abraham, 215 Manor Road, Staten Island, N.Y. 10310 Filed Nov. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 683,970 Int. Cl. A47h 3/02, 15/00 US. Cl. 160-368 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE edge is released from its supporting frame and lowered still further to expose the occupants of the room to light and ventilation from the top of the window while preserving their privacy within the room.

This invention relates to an improved shade covering for use over windows and the like.

More specifically, this invention relates to an improved shade which is adjustable for exposure from both its top and its bottom portions.

Conventional shade coverings for windows and the like are generally adjustable by upward or downward movement of their bottom rail. Thus, in shades such as venetian blinds, Roman and Austrian curtains, the movement of the shades is effected by the control cords raising and lowering the shades from their bottom. These shades when raised from the bottom, often sacrifice the privacy of the occupants of the room in order to permit light and ventilation to enter. Thus, it is often necessary for the occupants of the room to add curtains or other devices which are partially transparent and which may be drawn across the shade openings in order to maintain privacy. The use of curtains or other means across the opening of a window results in partially blocking the light and ventilation that was otherwise possible.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an adjustable shade apparatus which is capable of adjustment not only from its bottom portion, as is common with conventional shades, but which is also capable of adjustment from its top portion using the same set of control cords. The shade according to the invention, is provided with mechanical actuators or reversing mechanisms which enable the shade, when it has reached its full extension, or its bottom portion comes to rest on the window sill, to release its upper portion automatically and permit the upper portion to descend across the top of the window. The novel shade therefore permits the occupants of the room to enjoy privacy while receiving light and ventilation from the top of the window. The control cords of the novel shade are coupled through mechanical actuators for supporting the shade covering and respond automatically to releasing the top portion of the shade when the bottom portion has become fully extended or rests on the window sill. Likewise, when the shade is raised, the top portion closes first before the bottom portion ascends off the sill of the window.

It is therefore an object according to the present invention, to provide a shade apparatus which is adjustable from its top and bottom portions.

3,454,076 Patented July 8, 1969 "ice It is another object according to the present invention to provide a shade apparatus which is adjustable from both its upper and lower portions by the same control cords.

It is still a further object according to the present invention to provide an adjustable shade apparatus for use over a window and the like which preserves the privacy of the occupants of a room while permitting adequate light and ventilation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable window shade apparatus which is simple in design, easy to manufacture and inexpensive in cost.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which disclose an embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention as to which reference should be made to the appended claims.

In the drawings wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the shade according to the invention secured over a window opening and partially raised from its bottom portion;

FIG. 2 illustrates another position of the shade of FIG. 1 having its upper portion partially lowered from the top of the window frame;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view similar to that of FIG. 4 illustrating the shade according to the invention in its position as shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a view partly in cross-section, taken along line 77 of FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the novel shade 15 secured within window frame 11 of wall 10. Shade 15 may be constructed from fabric, wood slats, or other flexible decorative material, and is suspended from its uppermost horizontal support member 17 by means of control cords 19 and 20. Cords 19 and 20 are secured at one end to horizontal cross piece 18 adjacent to the bottom of the shade.

When the shade is lowered to its fullest extension further lowering of the shade will release pulleys 21 and 30 from cross piece 17 and cause the upper portion 38 of shade 15 to descend from the top of window frame 11. The details concerning the release of these pulleys will be discussed in the description which follows:

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a top plan view of one end of the shade illustrating the passage of control cords 19 and 20 through collecting pulley 24 pivotably secured within the aperture 25. Control cord 19 is distributed into shade 15 through pulley 16, pivotably mounted in aperture 26, adjacent to one end of horizontal support 17. Control cord 20 extends past guide 50, across support 17, to its opposite end for distribution through a pulley similar to that of pulley 16. Each end of support 17 contains an aperture 36 for receiving a vertically extended post or spacer sleeve having a wing nut 37 for securing support 17 to the top of window frame 11.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown a side plan view partly in cross-section of the positioning of one end of the blind in detail. The opposite end of the blind (not shown) also operates in an identical manner. Secured vertically along the bottom of support 17 is a rigid U-shaped hoop 22 forming an elongated opening suflicient to permit a suspended pulley 21 to pass therethrough. Pulley 21 is designed to have a drum circumference 26 significantly smaller than its external circumference in order that cord 19 which is shown passing over the drum may have a high mechanical advantage in the movement of the pulley through the opening of U-shaped hoop 22. Pulley 21 includes an aperture 27 along its axis for pivotably receiving a flexible support string 23 having its ends secured to top brace 38 of shade 15. String 23 may be constructed from any strong material such as thread, nylon, or wire having sufiicient strength to hold the weight of shade 15. Cord 19 which extends over drum 26 of pulley 21 is coupled through a plurality of eyelets 13 secured along the backside of shade 15 and is termianted in bottom support 18. Support 18 may be constructed of any rigid material such as wood, plastic and the like, and serves also to collect the bottom edge of shade 15. Eyelets 13 are secured in spaced-apart relationship along the backside of shade body 15 and include an internal diameter suflicient to allow control cord 19 (and 20) to slide freely therethrough.

The shade according to the invention operates as follows:

As the shade body is being raised or lowered from its first position as shown in FIG. 1, the weight of the shade material 15, its bottom edge member 18, and its top edge member 38 will maintain a suflicient amount of tension in cord 19 to prevent pulley 21 from crossing through U-shaped hoop 22 so that the top portion 38 of shade 15 will remain in adjacent relationship with respect to the top of window frame 11. Because of the small diameter of drum 26 with respect to pulley diameter 21, cord 19 slides over the drum during the raising and lowering of the bottom portion of shade 15. During the raising of shade 15, the frictional movement of control cord 19 across the drum of pulley 21 urges pulley 21 to rotate clockwise and thus counteract any tendency of the pulley to pass through hoop 22. However, during the downward movement of shade 15 the descending passage of control cord 19 across drum 26 urges pulley 21 to rotate counterclockwise and attempt to traverse through hoop 22. The tension on control cord 19 produced by the weight of the blind and its accessories is suificient to prevent the center of gravity of pulley 21 to climb upward and pass through hoop 22. However, as bottom 18 of shade 15 approaches its lowest position, the weight of the shade and its accessories gradually transfers from control cords 19 and 20 over to string 23. The increasing tension on string 23 taken together with the decreasing tension on control cords 19 and 20 cause pulley 21 to move counterclockwise during the downward movement of control cords 19 and 20 across its drum, and eventually jump through hoop 22, to assume a new position as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. By adjusting the diameter of the drum 26 of pulleys 21 and 30 and the weights of shade 15 and its cross members 18 and 38, the mechanical flip of pulley 21 through hoop 22 can be easily accomplished with repeatability for any predetermined length of the shade. Moreover, if the bottom member 18 comes to rest on the window sill (not shown) of window frame 11, before the shade has become fully extended, the sudden release in tension on control cords 19 and 20 will also cause pulley 21 to flip into its new position as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

After pulley 21 has passed through hoop 22 and additional amounts of control cords 19 and 20 are played out, pulley 21 rotates freely in a counter-clockwise direction with a 2-1 mechanical advantage in the lowering of top edge member 38 of shade 15. Shade 15 is thus capable of descending away from its horizontal support member 17 in order to permit light and ventilation to enter from the upper portion of a room while preserving the privacy of the the occupants within the room. The shade mechanism according to the invention may be provided with a counterweight 51 (FIG. 1) or other catch mechanisms in contact with control cords 19 and 20 or the pulleys in order to secure shade 15 in any desired position.

When the shade is raised from its position as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, pulley 21 will rotate clockwise and upon engaging hoop 22 will climb over its bottom rung and assume its position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when sufficient tension is reestablished in control cord 19.

While the movement of the shade mechanism has been discussed in detail with respect to its right hand side, it is obvious that the same movements will occur simultaneously with respect to pulley 30 and control cord 20 positioned on the left hand side of the apparatus. Moreover, additional pulleys and control cords may be added to the apparatus for controlling and supporting wide shades across large windows.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable shade apparatus having a shade body and support member, said shade body being movable from both its top and bottom portions, comprising:

control cord means for adjusting the level of the bottom portion of said shade body, having one end secured to the bottom portion of said shade body and having its opposite end collected at one end of the support member,

idler pulley means coupled to said control cord means for releasing the top portion of said shade body at a predetermined shade setting,

loop-shaped means secured to the support member of said apparatus, coupling means for pivotably connecting said pulley means to said top shade portion through said loopshaped means, 5

wherein said control cord means passes through said pulley means, and said loop-shaped means to permit said pulley means to descend in a loop of said control cord means when tension is released in said cord means to cause the top portion of said shade body to depart from said support member.

'2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said idler pulley means comprises at least two pulleys having a reduced drum radius and said coupling means comprises flexible strings secured in spaced relationship in the top portion of said shade body and passing through the axis of said pulleys.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said loop-shaped means comprises at least one rigid hoop for each pulley depending said support member and having an opening suflicient to permit said pulley to pass therethrough.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein said control cord means comprises at least one flexible cord for each of said pulleys.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said control cord means additionally comprises a plurality of eyelets secured in spaced-apart relationship along said shade body to loosely guide each of said control cords.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the top portion of said shade body includes a rigid support member, and the bottom portion includes a rigid, weighted support member for maintaining the shape of said shade body.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein said apparatus support member additionally comprises collecting pulleys disposed in apertures adjacent to each hoop for collecting said cords during adjustment of the shade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Auld 160-167 Judge 160167 X Bell 16084 5 Sarkisian 16084 6 2,285,919 6/1942 Feldman 160--84 2,636,556 4/1953 Light et a1. 1601'67 X FOREIGN PATENTS 704,692 2/ 1954 Great Britain.

PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner. 

